Chicken Readiness Review

It's close to chicken time. I'm expecting chickens to ship on Monday June 23rd, and arrive on Tuesday. Jackson is super pumped just like me. I get lots of cockadoodledoos from him while I work on the brooder.

My brooder is a cardboard box purchased from Target during a huge tantrum thrown by the 2 year old. The tantrum was based somehow on Thomas the train and how we're terrible parents for not buying the entire collection of track, trains, and buildings. I wish the store would cover up all the Thomas boxes so they didn't look so bloody exciting.

The brooder should be 1/2 square foot per chicken, provide access to food and water, and not let the chicks make a huge mess out of it. The chicks need to be kept at about 95 degrees for the first week, and a few degrees less each week after that so I'll have a light bulb in the box. It shouldn't be drafty, but they need air. Of course, Bob shouldn't be allowed in the brooder. The chicks can leave the nest at 3-4 weeks and stay outside full time in their coop, which right now is rotting in the yard. I have the water and food dispensers, and the pine shredding for the floor ready to go.

Here's a picture of my brooder:

Scattered

Does life just get more and more scattered when you have kids, or is it just me? Today is our first day back from vacation. When I checked my planner, I realized that Jackson was supposed to start his summer Mother's Day Out schedule last week and he has now missed 3 days of "school." The people at that program must think I'm the biggest idiot. I am the biggest idiot.

So, we just left this:

And today I am facing this:

Yuck. Back to the real world.

p.s. We are currently getting quotes for a fence for the backyard and the little chicks are scheduled to arrive in 5 days. Prepare yourselves for some more scattered blog posts!

Next Project ??

I've gotten antsy and need a new project to keep me from doing anything crazy like go get a pilot license. Here are my suggested projects:

1. Enclose the deck, and make a new living room. Our living room is too small, so it could now become a study. The study could become the dining room. The dining room could be the expanded kitchen. This project would keep me busy for a little while.

2. Put granite down. I don't want other people to do all the work, so I would consider purchasing a quarry and digging my own granite. After that, I would need to cut and polish it somehow. I'm not sure how to polish it. For some reason, Lettie doesn't want granite countertops in the kitchen.

3. Build a fence in the backyard. This is my parent's vote because they have a tendency to let the traffic on the road in the front do all the babysitting. We would fence the whole backyard, for equal hatred between the 4 neighboring yards.

4. Build a detached garage. Aww. That would be nice. We would move the driveway, and then the current garage could become the new living room.

5. Sprinkler system. Brian inspired me, but I'm afraid since last time we went days without water due to my plumbing inabilities. I could run the whole neighborhood out of water this time.

6. Build a full-size chicken house to fulfill my dreams.

7. Create an in-wall salt water aquarium using the space beneath the steps.

8. Bring in enough dirt to fill the front of the 1st floor of the house, and then call it the basement. Take the roof off, and build a 3rd floor which we would call the 2nd floor.

I have other ideas too, but they can be later.

What's your vote?

What's that crazy lady doing in her front yard?

That's what my neighbors were thinking last Saturday.

So, we have this couch and she's a khaki colored denim fabric. I really love this couch, but I bought her way before I had any inkling that I would be bringing 2 boys into this world.

The slipcovers on the cushions are removable, so they have seen many trips to the washing machine, but the rest of the couch is definitely not washable. I was "smart" enough to have a stain resistant coating put on the couch when I bought it, but apparently this means that any time it is spot cleaned, even with just water, it leaves a bleach spot. So, after many spills and paw prints and spot cleanings, we were left with a nasty looking splotchy couch that was very discolored and just not pretty.

We thought about getting a new leather couch, but I love this couch and she has been such a good couch for the last 6 years, so here was my solution:I dragged that baby out into the front yard and put the hose, some oxiclean and Jackson to work. I figured I had nothing to lose since my neighbors already think we're crazy, and it actually worked! I can tell she's proud to be back in our living room and I saved Alex a couple of thousand dollars that he can spend on useful things like chickens.

More Chickens...

Ok, I am honestly a little sick of hearing about chickens, talking about chickens, looking at chickens, preparing for chickens and you probably all are too. I think Alex is more excited about this than he was about finding out we were pregnant-and that took a lot of time and effort!

If you know and love Alex like I do, then you know that he has a tendency to go a little overboard with everything he does. The chickens are no exception. When we started this journey last Friday, he called me and said that he found a free chicken coop and 2 free chickens and could he please have them. I gave in and said if it is all free that he has permission, but he will be responsible for the care of them, especially anything poop related. I have enough poop to clean up around this house.

Fast forward to this week. The free chickens had already been taken and of course the free coop is just not up to Alex standards. Is he going to use the materials he has and just improve the coop? No! He has to buy all new materials and start from scratch. Did he find any other free chickens? No! He bought fancy pants chickens on-line and the number has been upped from 2 to 4. I just have to shrug my shoulders and smile.

Here's a picture of our chicken coop with our little monkey in it. That's our neighbor Gabe playing with him. Please enjoy this simple man's coop while it lasts.

I would also like to add that Alex owes me an apology for making fun of the chicken fabric I re-upholstered our chair in. I obviously knew we were chicken people long before he realized it.

Chicken Update

I have some great chicken news to announce. I have the coop, and our chickens will be here in a few weeks. We are receiving 1 day old chicks, which could be considered a little crazy by some of you. That's ok if you think this. You are the same people that will be jealous of my easter egg laying chicken in a few months.

Here are few pictures of our 4 hens. We've been told that the adult color of chickens can't be nailed down from the chicks, so these might not exactly match our chickens. But I expect these to be pretty close.

d'Uccle Bantams


Buff Silkie


Easter Egger


Barred Plymouth Rock (rooster is in front of the hens)

I know you're thinking that these chickens are awesome. I KNOW. That's why we're getting them. I'll talk about the coop after I decide on my course of action.

We are currently considering names for each chicken. We have a few ideas, but you know we don't like to name things until they have arrived. If you have ideas, we'll listen unless you're Drew. Drew, your ideas are terrible.

Excitement

Tomorrow is chicken coop day. I can hardly contain myself.

I'll get back to drinking mint juleps, wearing my oversized hat, watching race horses, and of course sitting on the deck.